I am very new at cake decorating, but I am going to try and make my own wedding cake next year (march 2010). We are having a very simply beach theme wedding (live in savannah and we are all about flip flops, jimmy buffett, & simplicity) and I have sooo many ideas running through my head for our cake. We are on a super super tight budget since I am in my last year of college and just started working part time (at minimum wage). I have been reading about the wedding cake design software and I do not think that it will help me at all with a non-traditional wedding cake. I am wondering, What is the best way to try out my ideas ??? I am not very computer savvy and horrible at drawing plus, I need more of a 3D view. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

You can do a simple tiered cake and make some shells. I did one for a birthday cake (in my pics) and it was quick and the shells are super easy to make. I find you can do just about anything you want to when designing your cake. I usually do sketches to help me.
And you can also practice with just a single cake to get an idea of what you want.

Welcome to Cake Central and Congratulations on your engagement. Since you are new to the site, let me help you with a few features. If you want some beach theme ideas, just look under the gallery section. It's at the top of this page. Once there you can also check out the gallery for sketches and templates. You can print some of these out to help you draw or design your cake. It has all different shapes and sizes. If you would like a 3D view, you could purchase some cake dummies in the shape you are wanting and play around with them until you get the look you want. There are some great molds that you can also purchase to make some seashells. Check out their website at firstimpressionsmolds.com. There are lots of ideas and lots of people that love to share ideas and help with any questions that you have. Just feel free to give me a shout. I will be happy to help any way I can.

Welcome again to Cake Central...

Patrice

The galler has beautiful seashell cake ideas. Once you are done looking there, you can also google cakes in Hawaii. They have some beautiful ones too.

If you're on a budget then I'd say don't waste your money on software. Use it towards the essentials you need for the cake. If you decide the do seashells, the shell molds are 1.99 each and you can use luster dusts to make them pearly and beautiful. And I see no reason why you can't practice on a mini version of your cake beforehand. I am not an artist either, but I sketch out what I want on paper and then bring it to life from there. I know what I want in my head, so I make it happen. You can too!

Best wishes for your wedding!

I think the software is more for people who are making cakes for a living. You'd be better off trying some recipes to find a cake and frosting that you like, and making some practice cakes. I really like Indydebi's buttercream. It's great for learning with because it's got a great texture.

One idea for a beach cake that would be lovely without being too difficult would be a cake frosted with light blue made to look like waves (then you don't have to worry about smoothing it). You can make shells from candy melts in the molds that were mentioned above...I bought a mini seashell mold at Hobby Lobby and a regular sized one at Michaels, so if you want to save money on shipping, you might check and see if you can find them there. It's really easy to make coral too...use white candy melts to pipe a lattice design on waxed paper, let it harden and peel the paper off, and you'll have impressive pieces to put here and there on the cake.

I'd look first and foremost at how many guests you are planning on feeding, and then the cake flavours and frosting/icing flavours you really would love to have.

With these parameters, you can decide on how big a cake you need to make, and what shapes you can use. This information will help you work out the cost of making your cake and decorating it. There are charts and advice you can get for that when you need it (a cake decorating shop may even hire out a cake tin the right size and desired shape for you, saving money).

If you are going to have more than one tier, you need to look at some tuorials on the topic, and ensure you have enough money in your budget to afford a good system of support so you end up with a nice-looking, stable cake.

When you have these basics, and have your budget worked out, you then can get creative with your decorations. In your shoes, with little experience, I woudl opt more for making little shells and starfish and the like out of silicone moulds, as they are foolproof essentially and look really effective! You can also have your cake coard (another cost to consider btw) with plain cookie crumbs to look like sand. If you like flip flops, you could make these with a template too.

Start with the basics though, as you rbudget can blow out if you need to buy lots of expensive equipment to make your cake. Figure out your numbers of guests first, and the rest will follow!

Good luck

For your first try , especially something so important as your wedding....... I would suggest the multi- tier set up, that you don't have to worry about stacking, or tiers, or supports, etc........ you can do each tier separately...... just box them up, take them to the venue, and set it up on your beautiful table....... the link I am sending you is from e-bay.... I just got this, and it is really neat....... you can put battery operated lights, or ANY decorations ( or none at all ) in the tubes, and set off the cake just beautifully....... For yours, I'm thinking mini seashells in the tubes........fish net, and larger shells on the table, and maybe a few larger shells with votive candles to set it all off............... HOW CUTE !

http://cgi.ebay.com/4-TIER-CASCADE-WEDDING-CAKE-STAND-STANDS-SET_W0QQitemZ150312169806QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item22ff4db14e&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12%7C66%3A2%7C39%3A1%7C72%3A1205%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A0%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50